Bela Tarr's "Sátántangó" on DVD

2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

SATANTANGO by Bela Tarr from the novel by Laszlo Krasnahorkai is one of the most respected recent films to surface on the international cinema scene. Such major critics as Susan Sontag, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and J. Hoberman have all called SATANTANGO a master works of the present day cinema. At seven and one half hours, in black and white 35mm film, this cinematic event must be experienced if one is to understand why Bella Tarr is considered so highly in international cinema.

SYNOPSIS: In the ashes of the Communist utopia in Hungary, a group of lost souls from a collective farm choose to follow a new messiah towards an uncertain future. In the endless rain and mud they work out their salvation in a series of encounters that Tarr's camera covers in long complex shots...which reveals the emptiness and the futility of their shabby existence.
-- Cinema Parallel

"BEST FILM OF 1996"........ J. HOBERMAN , VILLAGE VOICE

Satantango - Opening Sequence